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UKPSA and BSA work together to develop the GB Junior Team Selection Process

The GB team selection process has been rewritten to include 5 events, and now includes 3 of the events on the UK Pro Surf Tour, as well the BSA sanctioned British Schools Championships and the British Junior Championships

The move is seen as a step forward in the development of youth surfing in the UK, and will encourage those young surfers who want to represent their country to surf against some of the best pro surfers in the UK and Europe. The UK Pro Surf Tour is the professional arm of UK surfing attracting surfers from all over the world to compete. This year a full tour of Pro Junior (under 20s) events is scheduled as well as women’s events meaning that our young UK surfers have the opportunity to surf above their division and compete against some excellent surfer and ultimately raise their surfing ability

The qualifying events have also been chosen because of their geographic location, with events in Cornwall, Devon, Porthcawl Wales, Tynemouth (NE England) and Fraserburgh (Scotland), giving the BSA the opportunity to spread the net wide when it comes to team selection and hopefully discover talent in these traditionally under represented areas

The BSA sees this as the first step of bringing professional development and performance into the GB squad and also re-engaging all the young surfers of Great Britain

Dave Reed of the UKPSA told us “I am pleased that 3 of the events will be qualifying events for the GB team. The quality of surfing on the Pro Tour has gone up year by year and we are now getting interest from surfers who live abroad and want to come to the UK to compete; this will ultimately raise the level even higher and give our home-grown young surfers the ability to surf against internationals without having to leave the UK.

“We are putting together a coaching and development programme for our young surfers” said Mark Wesson of the BSA “This new selection process and partnership with the UKPSA will give the young UK surfers the opportunity to perform at a higher level, and will lead on to further development of all the young talent in the whole of the UK. The BSA are always looking to develop surfing and provide a route pathway into competitive surfing and this step is an integral part of that”.